A typical coaxial cable includes a center conductor or core surrounded by a dielectric which, in turn, is surrounded by a shield such as a tubular foil or metal braid. An outer covering or sheath typically is provided about the cable. A plurality of the cables may be terminated by a connector as discrete or individual cables, or the cables may be incorporated in a generally planar or flat composite often called a "ribbon" cable. In any event, the connector must terminate and/or interconnect a plurality of discrete conductors.
With the ever-increasing miniaturization and high density of electronic circuitry, terminating coaxial cables has become quite difficult. For instance, the core conductor of a coaxial cable may be as small as 0.07 to 0.09 mm in diameter. The core conductor with its surrounding dielectric may be only on the order of 0.21 mm in diameter. These very fine conductors of very thin or small coaxial cables create considerable problems in designing connectors.
In particular, the conductor cores typically are terminated to a plurality of side-by-side terminals having very closely spaced contact portions typically in a parallel array along a slot of the connector. Problems continuously are encountered in aligning the very fine conductor cores with the closely spaced contact portions of the terminals. These problems are magnified when it is desirable to avoid completely stripping the coaxial cables down to the bare conductor core. This process, itself, is extremely tedious and time consuming. Therefore, it often is desirable to keep the dielectrics about the conductor cores. When this is done, insulation-displacement contacts or terminals must be used to pierce the insulation about the conductor cores. The present invention is directed to solving these problems whether the coaxial cables are discrete cables or a ribbon cable and whether the conductor cores are completely stripped or insulation displacement terminals are used.